Time: 17:20. It seems to me that the puzzles are getting easier this week, so perhaps we can expect some record-breaking tomorrow. I still took my time over this, wanting to be sure I understood the wordplay. There is a scattering of rather less familiar words and phrases, though most should be within reach. The book may be more familiar to some as a 1971 film, but the enumeration gives you a decent lead.
I show definitions underlined in italics, and letters to be exclude in [square brackets]. I live in hope that the rest makes some sort of sense.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Some champagne and fresh soup, a great production (6,4) |
| MAGNUM OPUS – A double size bottle of champers, and and anagram (fresh) of SOUP. | |
| 7 | Willing to risk being dismissed by phone (4) |
| BOLD – Aural wordplay (by phone) with a cricketer’s dismissal being “bowled”. | |
| 9 | Wasteful for convict to lie about biting detective (8) |
| PRODIGAL – The innocuous for gives PRO, and a convict is a LAG, which you reverse (to lie about). Insert D[etective] I[nspector] | |
| 10 | Render unreadable poem on fence, ripping the edges (6) |
| ENCODE – Poem is ODE, placed on [f]ENC[e], with no edges. | |
| 11 | Withdraw medicine providing stimulant (6) |
| FILLIP – A reverse (withdraw) of a medicine PILL and IF from providing. | |
| 13 | Half of them held up beat (8) |
| THROBBED – Half of them is TH, add ROBBED for held up. | |
| 14 | I predict our team will be absorbed by next book (3,2-7) |
| THE GO-BETWEEN – By R. P. Hartley, not J. P. who penned “Fly Fishing”. SO, I is EGO, predict is BET, our team is WE (commonly in bridge scorecards) all sandwiched in THEN for next. | |
| 17 | Early morning call having gone off, she ran inside (4,3,5) |
| RISE AND SHINE – An anagram (gone of) of SHE RAN INSIDE. | |
| 20 | Campaign very English in importance (8) |
| MOVEMENT – V[ery] E[nglish] in MOMENT for importance, or significance. | |
| 21 | Metallic element not often used as poison (6) |
| CURARE – Also has medicinal value as a muscle relaxant. Fortunately one of the easier metals, copper for CU, and not often used supplies RARE. | |
| 22 | Nice friend finishes lace edging for mat (6) |
| TATAMI – Floor covering made from rice stalks common in Japanese homes. “Nice” directs you to the French version of friend, AMI, and TAT is hand made lace edging on fabric. Finishes is, I think, just a position indicator. | |
| 23 | Recall parent, worrying in case I forget (8) |
| AMNESIAC – Reverse MA for parent, and add an anagram (worrying) of IN CASE. | |
| 25 | Endlessly gnash teeth in unpleasant expression (4) |
| GRIN – The definition doesn’t quite feel right, though Chambers gives “To set the teeth together and withdraw the lips in pain, derision, etc”. To gnash teeth is to GRIND, from which the last letter is removed. | |
| 26 | Debtor absconding on the red-eye? (3-2-5) |
| FLY-BY-NIGHT – The red-eye in airline terms is a long distance overnight flight, probably in economy. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Impenetrable expression on drunk (8) |
| AIRTIGHT – Slightly dubious about AIR for expression, but it’ll do. Drunk gives you the TIGHT bit. | |
| 3 | Indicate agreement with what makes herds hers? (3) |
| NOD – The difference between herds and hers is that there is NO D. | |
| 4 | This study suggests something to chew on (3,2) |
| MUG UP – If MUG UP were a cryptic clue, you would derive GUM, which is something to chew on without teeth. | |
| 5 | Feeble child’s loose coat (7) |
| PALETOT – Feeble is PALE, and child is TOT. The ensemble is exactly what the clue says it is, derived from French. | |
| 6 | Leader of assault was fast catching a big bird (9) |
| SPEARHEAD – Was fast give SPED, into which you insert A RHEA, which is a large (flightless) South American bird, which Chambers disconcertingly says is small. Compared to the similar ostrich, maybe. | |
| 7 | Sacked minister perhaps put money on senior lawyer (11) |
| BACKBENCHER – When a government minister is sacked, s/he joins colleagues behind the front bench in Parliament. To put money on is BACK, and a BENCHER is a senior member of one of the Inns of Court. | |
| 8 | Boy looking embarrassed to go up climbing frame (6) |
| LADDER – Boy is LAD, and if he’s looking embarrassed, he’s RED. Reverse that bit (to go up). | |
| 12 | Remained shocked after stage trickery (11) |
| LEGERDEMAIN – An anagram (shocked) of REMAINED tagged on to LEG for stage (of a race, for example). | |
| 15 | Confidence about a senior sculptor’s work (3,6) |
| BAS RELIEF – BELIEF for confidence embraces A S[enio]R | |
| 16 | Criminal skinned fish to overstep boundaries (8) |
| ENCROACH – I assume the criminal is a FENCE, from which we remove the outer letters. ROACH is a freshwater fish. | |
| 18 | Professional in practice getting Romeo to replace two lines (7) |
| ACTUARY – In practice suggests ACTUALLY, in which you replace the two L[ines] with a NATO R[omeo] | |
| 19 | I’m surprised I can wear extra short fabric (6) |
| MOHAIR – I’m surprised gives |
|
| 21 | Shrewd Scots are not able to broadcast (5) |
| CANNY – Aural wordplay (broadcast) of Scots CANNAE for cannot. | |
| 24 | To speed over snow is the end of so many Russians (3) |
| SKI – Rather a lot of Russian men end their surnames with -SKI | |
21:38
I couldn’t parse PRODIGAL, taking ‘lie’ to mean lie, and THE GO-BETWEEN. Parsed MAGNUM OPUS post-submission. I don’t get the ‘This’ in ‘this study’. ‘professional’ is rather poor as a definition. The setter clues ENC twice as [f]enc[e]. And -ski is typically Polish, while Russian (in transliteration) uses -sky.
‘This’ is just shorthand for ‘this word meaning’. Padding to help the surface reading.
L.P. Hartley rather than J.P., also most people who chew gum have teeth!
I was thinking more chew on with, rather than the Wrigley’s version. I take your point!
I got less than half of this pretty quickly, and then got most thoroughly stuck. The answers would not come, so I left to participate in a YouTube premiere. When I returned, as I suspected, I was suddenly able to get some of the answers, but then I got stuck again. But suddenly seeing backbencher led to a cascade of biffed answers, and I finished in a rush. I did like the paletot, a word that is barely on the edge of my vocabulary, but was obvious with all the checkers in place.
Time: 51:15
At first I thought this was going to be impossible but after the first run through I took a deep breath and had another shot, this time starting towards the bottom of the grid working upwards, and gradually the answers began to flow.
My unknowns were PALETOT,
apparently making its debut today, BENCHER as a senior lawyer and the red-eye / FLY-BY-NIGHT thing. I also share the blogger’s misgivings re GRIN describing an unpleasant expression; I thought that’s what the word ‘grimace’ was for.PALETOT not ton. several times: 09/18/19/24.
Thanks.
This caused me to discover I had actually blogged paletot, and explained its history, so I should have remembered. From Middle English paltok, borrowed by the French as paletoc, then back to English several centuries later.
Also, the Russian word Palto (can’t write it in Cyrillic) means Coat. They obviously got it from the French, maybe in Napoleonic times.
I biffed chrome at 21a which led to problems. Also couldn’t see MOVEMENT so a DNF. Saw THE GO-BETWEEN but never parsed it. Also had doubts about ‘ski’ for the Russian name. NHO the PALETOT but saw it from the wordplay. Have seen LEGERDEMAIN in these parts enough for it to have stuck. Liked RISE AND SHINE. COD to SPEARHEAD. Didn’t think much of ‘Ha’ for ‘I’m surprised. Z, I think you’ve got that the wrong way round in the parsing.
Thanks Z and setter.
Thanks, corrected.
Did not know PALETOT and wasn’t really sure about GRIN being “unpleasant”. I did not know BENCHER but the answer was obviously BACKBENCHER (although most BACKBENCHERS are not sacked ministers). My time was 45 mins but I was also preparing dinner so maybe 30 mins of actual solving. I have been on my share of redeyes over the years so no trouble with that one.
9:51 which I think was punching above my weight today. PALETOT was a “trust the wordplay” moment and THE GO-BETWEEN took some parsing, but the rest fell relatively easily.
Thanks setter and Z. (Does the WE in THE-GOBETWEEN really require bridge notation? Surely it’s just WE as in “we’ll show those damned Aussies a thing or two in Adelaide”?)
I intended the bridge reference more as an example.
Is it an example of ‘our team’ though? I thought it stood for West and East. Not that I’ve ever knowingly seen a bridge scorecard.
My experience is also limited, thank goodness, but the other side is “they”.
Is it really? How confusing!
I always thought that was the point of bridge!
It’s certainly been my only experience of the game.
Not really, the player keeping the score has two columns, ‘We’ and ‘They’. As distinct from WE, which could at a stretch mean the partners West and East.
In crosswords WE always means the partners!
In my experience very keen supporters of a football team tend to refer to the results of that team using ‘we’.
First DNF this week after a few good days. SW corner got me; never heard of the rug nor the lace endings even though I had the nice friend. Thus couldn’t see MOHAIR with limited crossers. NHO PALETOT, built from instructions. Worked with many actuaries in my time… not as boring as you’d think!
Thanks Zabadak and setter
The fictional fly-fisher was JR rather than JP I think. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Hartley
Also needed a hand with the lace edging but otherwise managed in 32:24.
NHO Paletot but once I had the checking letters it was clear enough. LEGERDEMAIN was beyond my spelling abilities even though I knew the word but got it in the end. Loved the wordplay for SKI but don’t see why MUG UP can have a “this” before “study”?
“Study” can have multiple meanings, so I think the setter is almost advising us of that.
20.07 so fairly brisk with only a few tricky moments. Like some other commenters I had a MER at GRIN, largely because I couldn’t get GIRN out of my mind – much better description of an “unpleasant expression”. I also agree with Dr Jack that “this” in 4dn appears superfluous.
FOI ENCODE
LOI MOVEMENT
COD PALETOT
Thanks Z and setter.
I believe you are thinking of ‘gurn’; there is actually such a thing as the world gurning championship, in which contestants endeavour to pull the most dreadful of faces!
26m for this enjoyable offering. Thanks to setter and Z for the parsing of LP Hartley’s book; I saw the film with my first true love at the cinema in 1971. Oh well.
Thanks – OED gives both spellings and adds that GURN is a variant of GIRN, which is “chiefly North country dialect…” With Yorkshire/Cumberland ancestry and a home in Scotland I was always going to plump for the latter, but we are I think both right.
9:53. Middle-of-the-road. I wondered about GRIN too. No unknowns: even PALETOT was vaguely familiar.
Returned from my hols into the delusional confusion of an URTI. It hasn’t made me any better at crosswords. Antibiotics are beginning to clear it and I was left with only two unsolved after three quarters of an hour. I guessed PALETOT but put in a lame SALAMI for mat. But the memory of Julie Christie in one of my favourite films has cheered me up. Beautifully written book by L P Hartley. Good puzzle. Thank you Z and setter.
A memory of the lovely Julie Christie can only ever be a good thing. Let’s hope the antibiotics do the trick!
Never seen The Go-Between (and fortunately didn’t have to read it in school like many others did), but Julie Christie’s Don’t Look Now one of my best films ever.
I quite agree: the moment (spoiler alert!) when the dwarf turns round is a genuine shocking moment akin to the moment the wicker man appears in the eponymous movie.
There’s a strong rumour that Christie and Sutherland’s “tender” scene was so convincing because there was no – um – acting involved.
DNF after about 45 mins. Beaten by BOLD – rookie error in not spotting “by phone” indicating homophone – so biffed BELL. Also TATAMI. I got AMI from the eordplay but NHO TAT as lace edging, not the straw mat. Every day is a school day.
DNF, defeated by the unknown TATAMI having forgotten tat=lace edging.
– Relied on wordplay to get CURARE and PALETOT
– Same MER as others over the definition of GRIN
– Got FLY-BY-NIGHT from the enumeration more than from the definition
– Didn’t know bencher as a senior member of one of the Inns of Court, but BACKBENCHER had to be
Thanks Zabadak and setter.
COD Rise and shine
Not all grins are, or are intended to be, unpleasant expressions. Some are simply broad smiles. But ‘unpleasant expression’ does define a particular type/sense of ‘grin’.
18.30. Both Wed and Thurs easier offerings than of late. Must eat tons of fish today to prepare for another Friday monster.
33 mins but DNF due to typo in ENCROAaH. V. annoying after 5 mins alpha trawling for TAT proved correct. Now I see the blog it does ring a bell. Certainly not easy but mild for a Thursday.
Enjoyed BOLD, NOD and in fact most of it. Thanks Zabadak and setter.
11’29”, only one issue, already mentioned – why is a GRIN ‘unpleasant’? Didn’t know definition of PALETOT, but knew the word.
Thanks z and setter.
Fairly straightforward I thought, though paletot forgotten, not for the first time I suspect.
Skeletons can have a ghastly grin, so I’m told..
Nearly done but failed in the SE. Too many elements to choose from :there’s Chrome, Curium, Cerium. Now I sound like that Major General song of the elements. But did not think of the two letter abbreviations. Also beaten by ENCROACH.
CNP THE GO-BETWEEN but put in from enumeration.
COD FLY BY NIGHT
My thanks to Zabadak and setter.
I found it a bit quirky, but gettable. Quite a bit of biffing.
14a The go-between, biffed, thanks Zabadak for the parsing.
25a Grin, biffed Gurn at first then saw it didn’t work so changed to grin.
5d Paletot, LOI, very dim memory of this word which I would not have been able to define.
7d backbencher, DNK bencher as a lawyer.
19d Mohair, 2LOI, suddenly came to me, and only half parsed at the time.
I found this on the very hard side being well above my average time. Even THE GO-BETWEEN and BAS RELIEF going in from the enumeration didn’t help. Maybe I was just not on wavelength for this slightly quirky puzzle.
There were quite a few NHOs in this some already said, some not (I won’t say what they were at risk of seeming like a fool).
Liked the clue for LEDGERDEMAIN. One of those words I know but always relieved when it’s clued as a (partial) anagram.
Thanks blogger and setter.
12:31. LOI ACTUARY, with a “doh” as my son is training to be one. Like others I had a frown at GRIN being an unpleasant expression, wondering if something was missing from the clue and the unpleasant expression was “girn”. Thanks Z and setter.
meant as no disrespect to your son at all, but my careers guidance suggested that I became an actuary. when I asked what this was, it was described as a profession for people who find accountancy too exciting 😉
I drew a blank in the top half so lowered my sights and started with SKI. The SE corner populated nicely and I tackled the rest of the puzzle with a bit more confidence. I share the general doubt about a GRIN being unpleasant, but suppose it can be if it’s a rictus grin. I had to rely on the crossers and wordplay for the unknown PALETOT. MOVEMENT was LOI. 24:42. Thanks setter and Z.
Weird. This is supposedly easier than the earlier ones this week, but it utterly defeated me. After 30 mins I had just five clues complete. Gave up. When this happens I really, really worry that I’m losing my mind.
My thanks to Mara and rolytoly.
I found this unusually hard, but then I was being unusually thick.
4a LOI Farmer, easy but I couldn’t see it, and wondered how to cram Farming into 6 letters.
14a Misplaced, I biffed mislaid and didn’t notice it was 2 letters short, so couldn’t see Go Walkies for a while. DOH!
15d Diarist, I wondered about the Frank connection. Had I thought of Anne I would have thought she was Franks. Wrong. I finally decided that Pepys was pretty frank so bunged it in.
All in all I’m relieved I finished.
This is the 15×15 blog not the QC.🙂
Whoops!
It didn’t strike me as a difficult puzzle, but I found some of the clueing a little lax, which irritated me.
FOI MAGNUM OPUS
LOI MOVEMENT
COD RISE AND SHINE
TIME 11:08
25:07
Not too much trouble apart from the convoluted clue for THE GO-BETWEEN which I didn’t bother parsing, and the unknown PALETOT which was a best guess based on the wordplay.
Thanks Z and setter
Late last night I posted, but understandably nobody answered my question. I repeat what I wrote, although since this is my first post of the day (well it was when I wrote it) it isn’t entirely appropriate for today:
Why does one get this ‘Too many requests’ page? I haven’t posted more than once or twice today, not so many as some.
***
It will be interesting to see if it happens again later today.
So it’s not just me being told to stop bothering them. I’ m about to ask John about it. Are you being verified human every time you check in, too?
Same at lunchtime today. Tried via mobile instead of wifi and eventually timed out showing a report from Cloudflare (Manchester) that TftT Host is down.
I had the same problem. Now I am also finding the Quick snitch directs here. Not a good day!
I had this late last night, when I tried to see the blog.